WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:18.000 We in America are immigrants or the children of immigrants. We are one people, 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:25.000 but a people welded from many nations and races. People who came to America 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:32.001 during a vast migration from Europe to other parts of the world. In this 00:00:32.001 --> 00:00:38.000 migration, millions of Europeans left their homelands to settle in new countries 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:49.001 across the seas. Almost two-thirds of them came to the United States. When we 00:00:49.001 --> 00:00:55.001 became a nation, our population numbered just under four million. Each symbol 00:00:55.001 --> 00:01:03.001 here represents half a million people. Most of our people were of British origin, 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:11.001 but there were also Dutch and many Germans, as well as French, Spanish, a great 00:01:11.001 --> 00:01:28.001 many Negroes, and others. The immigrants came from Western and Northern Europe in 00:01:28.001 --> 00:01:36.001 growing numbers. The earliest waves brought people from Ireland and Great 00:01:36.001 --> 00:01:42.001 Britain, from Germany and nearby countries. Later, the Scandinavians joined the 00:01:42.001 --> 00:01:49.001 migration from the North and West of Europe. Then, in the 80s, from the South and 00:01:49.001 --> 00:01:59.001 East, they came as the migration fever spread deeper into Europe. During this 00:01:59.001 --> 00:02:07.001 period, too, came immigrants from the Orient. The century following 1820 saw 00:02:07.001 --> 00:02:12.001 Asiatic migration as Chinese and Japanese crossed the Pacific in considerable 00:02:12.001 --> 00:02:20.001 numbers. They from the Orient settled chiefly in our far West. The flow of 00:02:20.001 --> 00:02:29.000 immigration reached its peak between 1891 and 1920. During these years, a 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.001 tremendous movement set in from the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe. 00:02:34.001 --> 00:02:42.000 Many still came from the North and West, but many more came from Austria-Hungary, 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.001 Poland, Russia, Italy, and the Balkan Peninsula. 00:02:47.001 --> 00:02:52.000 But what of the people behind these symbols? What were their motives and hopes? 00:02:54.001 --> 00:03:00.000 Let us turn back to a steamship agent's office in a European port a half century 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.001 ago. Most of those seeking passage to America are farmers and peasants 00:03:06.001 --> 00:03:13.001 like this family from Eastern Europe. Behind them lie years of labor on 00:03:13.001 --> 00:03:20.000 land that could never be theirs. A man grows discontented when his own labors and 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:26.000 the labors of his family go mainly to enrich a landlord. For peasants like these, 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.000 there is hope of a better life in America across the sea. 00:03:33.001 --> 00:03:37.000 And there are those who have known at first hand the political oppression of 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:42.000 autocratic governments, governments that deal swiftly and ruthlessly with those 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.000 who dare to champion political liberty and freedom of expression. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:55.000 To the man deprived of civil rights in his native land, America offers the hope 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:01.001 of freedom. And then there are families like this who have 00:04:01.001 --> 00:04:07.000 suffered a religious persecution that could drive them from their homes and scorn 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.001 their right to worship in their own manner. For such as 00:04:13.001 --> 00:04:18.001 these, there is the promise of religious freedom in immigration to America. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.000 These and millions of others like them make up the great migration. Millions of 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.001 every nation and calling drawn together by their vision of America, a vision of 00:04:33.001 --> 00:04:39.000 land, opportunity, and freedom. These face the long ocean voyage. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:49.001 Then immigration gateways like Ellis Island and examination immigration 00:04:49.001 --> 00:04:56.001 officials. Here 00:04:56.001 --> 00:05:02.000 at the turn of the century, almost all Europeans enter freely except undesirables 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:08.000 such as criminals. For all news, there is a medical examination 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:13.000 to weed out those with serious illnesses and dangerous diseases. 00:05:18.001 --> 00:05:25.001 Many are rejected. Once in the new 00:05:25.001 --> 00:05:32.001 land, what lies ahead? These groups of Europeans that before 1890 00:05:32.001 --> 00:05:37.001 spread rapidly westward to settle both on the farms and in the cities. 00:05:39.001 --> 00:05:46.000 By the year 1900, settlements of Germans were scattered widely from east to west. 00:05:49.001 --> 00:05:55.000 Scandinavians were grouped in the northern, middle west, and the Irish were 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.000 largely concentrated in the northeast. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.000 Today, the sons of these immigrants still cultivate the soil that their fathers 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:13.001 made their own. And the farming communities and cities founded by these groups 00:06:13.001 --> 00:06:19.001 are typically American. Here, there is little trace of the old world, though we 00:06:19.001 --> 00:06:23.001 find these communities still peopled by the children of these immigrants. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:32.000 Most of the immigrants that came after 1890 went into the factories and found 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:38.001 their homes in the tenements of America's growing cities. The crowded 00:06:38.001 --> 00:06:45.001 slums became America's melting pot, sprawling communities of transplanted 00:06:45.001 --> 00:06:52.000 peoples, living side by side, but still diverse in languages and customs as 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:58.001 diverse as these shop signs that mark the immigrant neighborhoods. These 00:06:58.001 --> 00:07:03.000 communities posed an urgent question to America. Could these people of many 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:10.000 nations become a part of the American way of life? In 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:16.000 meeting this problem, many agencies played a part. The churches that preserved 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:23.000 traditional ties in the midst of new surroundings, the newspapers that spoke 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:28.001 to the 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:36.000 trade unions that taught them to work together, these and other agencies drew 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.001 into the larger community the stream of new arrivals. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:49.001 In 1924, a law was passed to restrict immigration from countries outside the 00:07:49.001 --> 00:07:56.000 Western Hemisphere. By this law, the number to be admitted henceforth was to be 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.000 in proportion to the national origin of our country's population. 00:08:03.001 --> 00:08:10.000 This gave to Northern and Western Europe more than 80% of the 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:16.000 total, while Southern and Eastern Europe received less than 20%. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.001 After 1924, immigration from Europe dwindled and virtually 00:08:22.001 --> 00:08:24.001 stopped during the 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:34.000 1930s. But immigration from our American neighbors went on. A century of 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:39.001 immigration has brought in many people from Canada, and more recently, there has 00:08:39.001 --> 00:08:44.001 been a lively migration from Mexico, as well as from the Caribbean area. 00:08:49.001 --> 00:08:56.000 Today, these people of every nation and race 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:02.001 have become Americans all, a people still diverse, but sharing common aspirations 00:09:02.001 --> 00:09:07.001 and drawn together in their common contribution of the skills and talents that 00:09:07.001 --> 00:09:09.001 have made America a great nation. 00:09:10.001 --> 00:09:16.001 The school has been a most important influence in the making of Americans. Here, 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:22.001 the meaning of our country, its institutions and its culture, reaches the 00:09:22.001 --> 00:09:29.001 children of every community and race and origin. Here too, the latest arrivals 00:09:29.001 --> 00:09:35.000 from abroad, young and old alike, have an opportunity to study the language and 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:42.000 history of America. These people are preparing for an 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.000 important step, admission to citizenship. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:54.001 Here, they come to testify to their fitness to become once and for all a part of 00:09:54.001 --> 00:10:01.000 the United States of America. Longs the promise of long ago, send these, the 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:06.000 homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.000 beside the golden door.